Thursday, July 26, 2012


1881- GOAT MAN SAGA CONT.

Okay- I never thought I would write a follow up post on the Goat Man [few posts back].


But- yesterday morning I read another story about this masked [or fur coated?] man.

Yes- this time I figured I’d read the whole thing.

For those who didn’t read the post- Goat man was simply some guy- dressed like a goat- ‘living’ among the goats in Utah.

Some tourist spotted him and reported him to the cops.


So- Goat man made national news- and the story went viral.

They were looking for the guy- fearful that he might get shot.


So- the follow up story said the local authorities received a call- by a ‘very agitated man’.

He simply said- quote ‘leave Goat man alone- he’s done nothing wrong’!


Hmm?

 Could this caller be wearing a fleece?


Yes- it was the infamous goat man on the line.


The story went on and said he was a hunter who was simply preparing for a Canadian hunt.


He made the ‘goat outfit’ using a painters type suspendered pants- and some type of hair.


Okay- maybe goat man is innocent.

But I must correct our furry friend- no sir- dressing like a goat- making it into the national news- twice- at the age of 50 something.

O- this is wrong- so very wrong.



Second- I find funny stuff in the most unlikely places.

The other morning I was listening to NPR [radio news] and they were doing a story on Muslim athletes who are competing in the Olympics.


The reporter introduced the piece by saying the Muslim fast of Ramadan has just started- and that some Muslim athletes are ‘struggling’ with whether or not to observe the daily fast.


Muslims are not supposed to eat during the day.

So- I was expecting to hear the athlete say ‘Praise Allah- I have struggled much with this decision- and…’

You know- some type of real personal turmoil over this great dilemma.

They guy comes on and says ‘Nah- I’m not gonna be doin that’.

Huh?

Sounded like this Muslim brother came straight from the streets of Jersey- sort of like the Henry Hill character from Goofellas [or Depp in Donnie Brasco- take your pic].

So- over all- I had a few good laughs.


Okay- It’s been a few days since I did economics/politics.

But I must say- the news this past week has been very bad- economically.

Britain has reported a worse recession than previously thought.

China has been fudging their numbers too- they made it sound like they were doing better than they were.

And the E.U. crisis is not getting better- or even staying stagnate- but getting worse.


So- the other day after the markets looked like they were going into another sell off.

The dow was down around 200.

The Fed chairman popped into action and basically said they were going to do another Qe-3 [put more money into the system].

Normally- this would drive the market way up.


This time- it simply stopped the sell off for the day and the market has only risen a few points since then.

That’s a bad sign- even the investors are saying this won't do.


I heard a quote from a knowledgeable guy the other day- on one of the business shows.


He said the real money- the institutional investors- they see all this Fed action as dangerous.

That to simply print money like this- and for the market to ride on it- is not good economic policy at all.


It looks like he was right.


We really should have a national debate over stuff like this.

I feel bad for the seniors who were forced out of the interest rate market [Cd’s and bonds] and were told ‘you need to be in the market- look- you can’t live on 1 % inertest’.

So- many of these older folk- who were perfectly happy with 5-7 % on their money- they were forced out of that stable market- and into this terrible market that we have had these past 12 years.



That’s the fault of the various Fed chairmen- when they decide to enact fiscal policy that says we want to keep the rates really- really low- then that leaves the seniors no other option- they get thrown into the risky stock market- and then they take a hit.


I am not a ‘right winger’ or left winger on these things- but I do see the Fed at the end of the road- they simply have done all you can do at this point.

 I think they should leave the thing alone- no more stimulus- it’s just throwing money into a system that’s in the process of de-leveraging- and just like the real estate market- we simply need to let the system bottom out- because if we keep propping up the system- then it will never really get fixed.

[yeah- Krugman- it’s not that easy]


And Cali.

We have now seen 3 cities declare bankruptcy in the great state.

Some city is messing with the idea of actually doing Eminent Domain on the houses that are underwater.


They want to ‘seize’ the mortgages of these homeowners- and force the banks to re-do the loan- at a loss to the mortgage holder.


If they do this- trust me- your home in that town will be worth nil.

Why?

  Everyone in the state will know that if you invest in a house in that city/county- that you might someday be forced to take a loss on that house- by Eminent Domain.


These ideas come from well meaning people- but for the most part they have no business experience.



Last year the president talked about stuff like this on a national level.


It wasn’t Eminent Domain- but he made the argument that if we come to some type of a deal with the banks- to ‘make’ them lower the values on these homes- that it would help everybody out.


Obama said ‘it does no good for you to have 3-5 foreclosed homes on your block- so this will prevent that from happening’.

Look- anyone who has any knowledge at all on real estate will tell you this would be an unmitigated disaster.

Why?

If you go into a neighborhood where the homes on average sell [or sold] for 150,000.

And you take half of the homes on that block and reduce the value of the homes to 100,000.


You did not do the other home owners a favor [the ones who by the way are paying their bills!]

You simply ‘revalued’ their home to a hundred thousand as well.

See?



So all in all- sometimes people mean well ‘look- lets seize the mortgages on these struggling folk- and force the bank to take the hit’.

Sounds good- but if you do that- you will ruin the value for all the other people in that county.


Also- the biggest retirement fund in the nation- in Cali- just reported 1% growth- not the 7% it had counted on.



I think California is in danger of possibly declaring bankruptcy for the whole state.


They say ‘they way Cali goes- so goes the nation’.

Let’s hope this is not true this time around.




Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] - I have posted lots.







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